James Last Orchestra

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The James Last Orchestra was a German/multinational

Around 1970 the rhythm section was reorganized as a rock group (lead guitar: Helmuth Franke, rhythm guitar: Peter Hesslein, drums: Barry Roy Reeves, bass: Benny Bendorff, percussion: Christian Lembrecht and later Herbert Bornholdt). Bornholdt and Hesslein were members of the German progressive rock band Lucifer's Friend (another member, Peter Hecht, played with Last for a few years in the late 1970s), and Franke was a member of the pop-rock band Wonderland, whose recordings were produced by Last.

Last initially used many of the musicians who, like himself, were based in Hamburg and were regularly employed by the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR, or North German Radio) big band. Over time, many of the NDR musicians could not always get time off to tour with the Last band, so Last used this chance to make the orchestra more international. Some of the top musicians who have played in the James Last orchestra include Canadian violinist Trudean Conrad, Welsh drummer Terry Jenkins, Belgian trombonist Georges Delagaye, Swedish trumpeter Leif Uvemark and a number of American trumpeters including Bob Lanese, Rick Kiefer and brothers Chuck Findley and Bob Findley. Another trumpeter, Derek Watkins from England, recorded with The Beatles, playing on "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Revolution 1". Some musicians are family: father-and-son violinists Dmiter Pintev and Stefan Pintev, and husband and wife Bob Coassin (trumpet, USA) and Anne-Louise Comerford (viola, Australia). Bob Coassin is widely known in America. All in all, about 20 different countries are represented in the membership of the orchestra.(All of Which were Recruited through the various James Last Admin Offices in Hamburg, London, and North America when the band became more of a Multi-National orchestra).

Trumpet

Gregory Bowen (1978), Lawrence Elam (1977), Kenny Wheeler (1977), Etienne Cap (1977), Jan Kohlin (1980–1981), Bob Coassin (1981–2015), Jan Oosthof (1991, 2002–2015), Ingolf Burkhardt (1991), Stuart Brooks (2002), John Barclay (2002), Martin Krämer (2002), Chuck Findley (2001-), Bob Findley

(2002-)

Trombone

Ole Holmquist (1978–2013), Björn Hängsel (1983–1989), Pete Beachill (1995–1999, 2001, 2015), Anders Wiborg (2002–2015), Waldemar Erbe (1991), Mats Lundberg (1990–2001), Horst Raasch

Saxophone & flute

Emil Wurster, Karl-Hermann Lüer (1966–1991), Harald Ende (1969–1979), Klaus Nagurski (1976), Werner Rönfeldt (1978), Stan Sulzmann (1979–1987), Hans Udo Heinzmann (1991), Matthias Perl (1991), Matthias Clasen (1999–2007), Herb Geller (1991), Jamie Talbot, Andy Mackintosh (1988–2002)

Guitar

Heinz Schulze (1968–1969), Bernd Steffanowski (1968–1972), Ladi Geisler, Helmuth Franke (1969–1977), Peter Hesslein (1972–1977, 1985-), Big Jim Sullivan (1978–1985), Alan Sparks (1978), Jürgen Schröder (1978), Erlend Krauser (1992-)

Bass

Fiete Wacker (1968–1969), Benny Bendorff (1969–2002), Thomas Zurmühlen (2002-)

Drums

Robert Last (1965–1972), Barry Roy Reeves (1972–1978), Terry Jenkins (1978–2002), Stephan Eggert (2002–2015)

Percussion

Barry Roy Reeves (1970–1972, 1978–1985), Christian Lembrecht (1971–1972), Herbert Bornholdt (1972–1978, 1987–2002) ), Rolf Ahrens (1976–1978), Max Raths, Wolfgang Schlüter (1976–1978), Mathias Korb (1999–2001), Pablo Escayola (2002-)

Piano, organ, synthesizer, vibes, accordion

Günter Platzek (1965–1990)

Bandoneon, saxophone

Jo Ment (1965–2002)

Keyboards

James Last, Peter Hecht (1976–1978), Thomas Eggert (1987–2015), John Pearce (1991–2002), Ron Last, Hans Gardemar (1997–2002), Joe Dorff (2002–2015)

Vocals

english choir:

Jimmy Chambers

(1996–2002)

german choir: Antje Busch, Bernd Wippich, Freya Wippich, Christine Schaper, Peter Schaper, Jörg Fries, Unni Duncklau, Brigitte Duncklau, Michael Reinecke, Rale Oberpichler, Angelika Henschen, Lisa Salzer

Strings

Eugen Raabe, Dmiter Pintev, Trudean Conrad, Gillian Catlow, Anne-Louise Comerford, Stefan Pintev, Juliane Holz, Zwetelina Haubold, Martin Lehmann, Boris Bachmann, Rebecca Thümer, Wulf Lohbeck, Kirsten Ibarra, Nadine Goussi Aguigah, Mathias Brommann, Kiki Zumach, Maria-Elena Pacheco, Katie Vitalie Ekatarina Bolotova, Adrian Bleyer, Katharina Kowalski, Susan Richards.

External links

• jameslast.com
• James Last at allmusic.com
• Orchester James Last discography at Discogs
• The James Last Band discography at Discogs